Twitter, instant fix for a news junky

CHARACTER BUILDING: A tweet said this week, "Rape is not Voldemort. It's not a dark lord, it won't appear if you say it." Photo/File

What is Twitter? Before I signed up, I thought it was something that vapid personalities used to share their latest selfie. But now I'm a devotee - Twitter is what you make it. And as a former journalist and a political junkie, discovering Twitter is an addictive experience.

Sticking with the internet theme, I went to Wikipedia (a free online encyclopaedia where users can add information to the listings) to find out how they described Twitter - a social networking service that enables users to send and read short text messages called "tweets".

Limited to 140 characters long, tweets can be blunt, poorly constructed or razor-sharp witticisms. They can include images and videos and even stretch to art and poetry.

You choose who you follow so for me Twitter is about news, politics, feminism, sustainability and conservation and humour - not the latest in celebrity news.

It has a reputation of being lightweight and pointless, and with pop stars Katy Perry and Justin Bieber leading the way with more than 50 million followers each (I've recently broken 200 followers), you can understand why. I don't follow either for the record, although I do have Lorde on my list - but she is a pretty impressive 17-year-old Kiwi.

Don't get me wrong, Twitter can be trite and pointless if that's how you use it. Follow a bunch of numpties and you will have a flaccid feed to waste your time with.

I use the Twitter for my instant news fix by following a bunch of journalists, columnists, cartoonists and bloggers, making it easy to keep up with the latest. Two of my favs are @beckeleven and @domesticanimal.

But it's not news as we know it - as well as links to the traditional news stories, we have direct access to the news-makers and news breakers, plus tweeps critiquing the coverage.

One of the big stories this week has been the Malaysian Embassy staffer who was able to leave the country - despite being charged with attempted sexual assault - because of his diplomatic immunity.

Twitter was ablaze with questions and comments, with one of the later tweets from a reporter @mizjwilliams "hasn't all this Malaysian stuff got complicated. Murray McCully's now admitted MFAT's comms with their foreign ministry were "ambiguous"". This means you get access to more innuendo than is possible in the telling of a straight news story, without waiting for tomorrow's editorial or opinion piece.

@ColeyTangerina tweeted about the poor headlines that talked about sex rather than assault "Rape is not Voldemort. It's not a dark lord, it won't appear if you say it."

There are other news personalities that write things that bring a smile - @gtiso: "Today, I'm talking to Kim Hill. Tomorrow, you may bury me under a nice shady tree."

Lots of politics features in my feed and I enjoy the tweeps who make a strong point within the character limit. In the past week, here are some examples that hit the nail on the head for me:

@malosilima: "Latest poll. Troubled Labour nosedives down one point, Nat steady and strong, only going down one point."

@southernsprout: "Watching Q&A, why does Key focus on the average income when it's the median that matters?!"

@LewSOS: "The idea that poverty is not knowing what to do with your money, rather than the absence of money, is a perfect articulation of #YoungNatism."

Twitter also gives exposure - it allows people to share their creativity before they have a mainstream profile.

This week I've appreciated the work of @ninendoug, who recreates retro-styled movie posters with political messages like: "The poor and the sick are just really, really gross. And assistance only creates dependency. Paula Bennett in the neo-lib classic Pulling Up The Ladder".

Twitter is also good for following sport, so lots of World Cup clutter to trawl through at present - and I haven't worked out how to block the streams of the soccer-obsessed.

Finally it's also good for promoting your awesome hometown. This week @adzebill of Whanganui tweeted "We routinely get 40 or 50 at the Wh FilmSoc screenings; that's 0.1% of the town. It's like 1200 people turning up to @AKLFilmSoc."

Nicola Young is a former Department of Conservation manager who now works for global consultancy AECOM. Educated at Wanganui Girls' College, she has a science degree and is the mother of two boys.